Toning photos

Normally associated with old or historic images, sepia or brown-toned photos have a unique appearance. Traditionally these pictures are created by taking the finished black and white print and passing it through one (or more) extra chemical processing steps. The result is an image where the gray tones are replaced by other colors such as the brown typically seen in sepia-toned photos. See Appendix P for more details on the traditional process for toning black and white prints.

As the black and white prints that exit our desktop printers are not based on silver it is not possible to alter their appearance using these chemical processes. Instead digital toning occurs before printing as a part of the enhancement process. Using the color control features that can be found in most image editing packages, digital photographers can easily replicate the results of these old processes. In addition, it is also possible to create sophisticated split-toning with more control than was ever possible in the darkroom. Here I explain several different approaches to toning your digital photos.